Watermelon Day

We always love visiting Stanhope for Watermelon Day in July!  It's such a great opportunity to see both sides of my family, and the girls especially loved holding the babies this year!  Norah also loves the opportunity to get a can of pop at the pop toss.  Such a fun day!

Waterfalls and ice cream

For our third annual waterfall/ice cream day with my friend Kaysie and her daughter Addy, we went to nearby Nerstrand to see the falls.  We have had such a dry summer so far that it was mostly dry, but the girls had fun anyway.  We hit up The Blast in Northfield on the way home for some tasty ice cream!

Beaver Creek Valley

Our annual family camping adventure took us to SE Minnesota this year--Beaver Creek Valley State Park.  We spent the night before in Rochester to break up the drive and drop Sadie off.  Plus, the weather on Monday morning was rainy and we didn't have access to the camper cabin until 3.  We ended up getting to the park just a little after 3, unloaded the car, and headed straight to Big Spring, which was just a short walk from the camper cabin.  We had fun walking across the rocks and dipping our toes in the ice-cold water, and Dave and Norah ended up walking through the deeper part that was waist-deep for Norah.  The girls decided to put on their swimsuits so they could play a little bit more in the water.

Before supper, we decided to go for a hike--we hiked for about an hour up through the woods to a ridge with some great bluff views.  Abby and Norah didn't appreciate the heat and muddy, slippery trails, but there were great views and we even saw a raccoon cross the trail up ahead of us.

After the hike, the girls and I showered while Dave started the fire.  For supper, we cooked hot dogs and s'mores over the fire.  Abby and I did some biking to explore the campground/playground/trailhead area a little bit more.  Dave and Norah walked down to check it out as well.  Before bed, we ended the night with a game and everyone reading in the bunks (Dave in the screened-in porch).

The next morning, we had breakfast and decided to get in our hike before the heat/humidity of the day really kicked in.  We hiked the Beaver Creek Valley Trail, which was more of a flat woodsy/creek/meadow trail instead of the hills from the night before.  

Since it was already getting so hot, we decided to spend the afternoon in Lanesboro.  We had a picnic lunch at the park, then enjoyed cooling off by tubing down the Root River.  Biking would have been fun if we had had the time (and if it had been cooler).  We had been watching the weather, too, and decided it would be better to pack up at the camper cabin and head back to Rochester for the night.  It was a quick trip, but we really enjoyed the park!